Recently after television regulators Ofcom relaxed their stance on product placement in TV shows, satellite provider Sky have gone in for what is reported to be their second deal since the ruling. However, the placement, which was featured on last night’s episode of Sky1′s dog-based reality programme A Different Breed, will be more ‘placed’ than most people could imagine…

A deal between the parties of Sky (broadcaster), Pulse (producers of A Different Breed), MirriAd (a digital advertising company), and Pedigree (a pet food seller and advertisers for the experiment), means that Pedigree Dentastix an ‘oral care product’ for dogs, featured on the series. This display did not come in traditional ‘product placement’ forms, but instead by digital insertion. This was seen by way of ‘posters’ in a scene of dog walking on the show, which is described as an ‘observational documentary’ series that follows the lives of fairly obsessive dog owners and their pets.

MirriAd provided the technology for the placement, which saw Dentastix posters put in places where there were no posters in reality (an official ‘before and after’ example is shown in the picture above), but judging by Ofcom’s ruling, this has been deemed an acceptable approach to take.

Sky’s chief of branded content, Jason Hughes, claimed that the UK’s leading satellite broadcaster are: “delighted to be at the vanguard of digital product placement in the UK”.

Hughes said of the deal: “A Different Breed is an unashamedly quirky show celebrating our country’s love of pets – in this case dogs and their owners. It therefore presents some ideal opportunities for a brand like Pedigree – especially in conjunction with it taking the first advertising spot in an ad break exclusively devoted to products associated with pets. We are looking forward to working with other brands to explore similar opportunities.”

Nadia Follon, a marketing manager of ‘snacks & treats’ at Pedigree, added: “Digital product placement represents a great opportunity for us to communicate with our audience in an entirely new way. We’re delighted to be using this innovative channel and look forward to a positive response from our consumers.”

Caroline Reik, a ‘brand content specialist’ at Pulse, explained how the brand and show fit together nicely for the experiment. She said: “We feel very proud to be the first company to work with Sky and MirriAd on this post-production product placement deal to demonstrate how product placement can work effectively and creatively. Pedigree’s creative proved to be a perfect fit with the editorial of the programme. The post-production route gives both producers and broadcasters time to plan a suitable brand to sit within the editorial context – the better the fit, the more impactful the placement can be.”

Meanwhile, MirriAd could be coming into a bit more work following their early success, as Discovery Networks UK announced their plans to be the second user of digital product placement methods, as appliances manufacturer Karcher is virtually inserted into the show Tommy’s Fix It. With genuine regular usage on the way rather than just theory, is this new marketing method now going to pick up and change the face of advertising and ‘reality’ TV?

mirriad, sky product placement, dentastix product placement, different breed last night, karcher uk news, a different breed online, mirriad pedegree, sky ofcom pay tv, sky online pet tv pc, sky post production

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